Great products for amateurs and novice users (Konica Minolta Dimage Z20)

Member Name: Dragonmen

Product:	Konica Minolta Dimage Z20
Date:	09/03/05 (501 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fast start-up, 5 mega pixels (2560x1920 pix), 8x optical zoom

Disadvantages: Small LED Screen, No flash hot-shoe, Hybrid AutoFocus

A Short desciption of Minolta Z20
Minolta Z20 is a model which is a very similiar with it's more expensive model Z5. Main difference between this two models are in zoom range, a fixed rather than pop-up flash, no flash hot-shoe, hybrid AF, a smaller LCD, the 'switch finder' viewfinder, built-in storage and no Anti-Shake. Obiviously, this model is more intended for a lower-price range products.
If you are an amateur or novice users and want to use this camera to take some shots for everyday use this is a right camera for you. If you are more demanding you should look for a Z5 model.

Technology
8x optical zoom and 4x digital zoom for this camera allows a total of 32x zoom which is about to be enough to capture everyday shots. Macro mode allows photographer to take shots at about 0.4" from the subject.
CxProcess III technology allows user to take shots as they have been seen by the photographer.
With four included AA batteries and SD card (which is a recommended to use 128MB) user can take about 450 frames which is a pretty much of the shots for this camera class. Unfortunately, batteries cannot be recharged so you may want to use rechargable batteries with this model.
Faster startup allows startup of about 0.5 seconds measuring time from the power switch on the camera is beign pressed to the time you will see picture on the screen.
Rapid AF has fast autofocus for digital cameras with predictive focus control in the class of 8X zoom and 5MP cameras as measured by Konica Minolta’s standard test method. Focus is a about 0.3 seconds in wide angle and telephoto.

Conclusion
Very good product for amateur users. Minolta is a very reputable company in producing high-tech quality products. You will most likely be satisfied with this model. If you are more demanding user you should look for a more expensive Z5 or some models from A200 series.

Here's the detailed technical info:

Sensor
• 1/2.5" Type CCD
• 5.2 million pixels total
• 5.0 million effective pixels
Image sizes
• 2560 x 1920
• 2048 x 1536
• 1600 x 1200
• 640 x 480
Movie clips
• 640 x 480 Fine (15 / 30 fps)
• 640 x 480 Standard (15 / 30 fps)
• 320 x 240 Standard (15 / 30 fps)
• No audio
• Limited only by storage space
• Night capture mode available
File formats
• Still: JPEG (EXIF 2.2) - Fine, Standard, Economy
• Movies: MOV (Motion JPEG)
Lens
• 36 - 290 mm equiv. (8x optical zoom)
• F3.2 - F3.4
Image stabilization
• No
Focus distance
• Normal: (wide) 0.5 m - Infinity, (tele) 1.5 m - Infinity
• Macro: (wide) 1 cm, (tele) 60 cm
Auto focus
• Hybrid external passive AF and video AF
Focus modes
• Single shot AF
• Continuous AF (with predictive focus control)
• Full time AF
• Manual focus
Auto focus areas
• 3-point Wide Focus Area
• Spot focus area
Digital zoom
• Up to 4.0x (0.1x steps)
Metering
• Multi-segment (256 segments)
• Center-weighted
• Spot
ISO sensitivity
• Auto
• ISO 50
• ISO 100
• ISO 200
• ISO 320
Exposure compensation
• +/- 2.0 EV
• 1/3 EV steps
Shuttter speed
• 4 - 1/2000 sec
Noise reduction
• Automatic
Exposure modes
• Programmed AE
• Aperture priority
• Shutter priority
• Manual
• Scene modes
Scene modes
• Auto (Portrait, Sports, Landscape, Sunset, Standard)
• Portrait
• Sports
• Landscape
• Sunset
• Night portrait
Exposure bracketing
• 3 frames
• 0.3 or 0.5 EV steps
White balance
• Auto
• Daylight
• Cloudy
• Tungsten
• Fluorescent
• Flash
• Custom (manual)
Self timer
• 2 or 10 sec
Continuous shooting
• Normal: 1.0 fps (4 frames @ 2560 x 1920; Standard)
• Progressive mode: (stores last frames captured instead of first)
Image parameters • Contrast (3 levels)
• Sharpness (3 levels)
• Color mode (2 levels, b&w, sepia)
Flash
• Built-in fixed
• Modes: Auto, Auto with red-eye reduction, Fill flash, Slow sync
• Compensation: +/-2 EV in 1/3 EV steps
• External flash: Hot-shoe
Viewfinder
• Switch finder (LCD image is projected through viewfinder)
LCD monitor
• 1.5 " TFT LCD
• 113,000 pixels
Languages
• Japanese, English, Germany, French, Spanish, Chinese (Simplified character), Italian, Swedish
Connectivity
• USB 2.0 (Full-speed only; USB 1.1 equiv.)
• A/V out
• DC-IN
Storage
• Internal flash storage (14.5 MB)
• Secure Digital
Power
• 4 x AA batteries
• NiMH recommended (Alkaline supplied)
Print compliance
• Exif Print
• PRINT Image Matching III
• PictBridge
Weight 340 g (12 oz)
Dimensions 109 x 82 x 94 mm (4.3 x 3.2 x 3.7 in)

Standard accessories: Neck Strap NS-DG800, Lens Cap LF-243B, Video Cable VC-400, USB Cable USB-3, DiMAGE Viewer CD-ROM, Four AA Alkaline batteries

Summary: